MARKET NEWS
Nigeria’s factories go local to survive currency turmoil - FT
After second devaluation of the naira, manufacturers overhauled supply chains to source more materials domestically
BY Aanu Adeoye in Lagos and Agbara
After two decades in Nigerian manufacturing, Lekan Aluko thought he had seen all the ups and downs of an industry that has proved difficult even at the best of times.
But the turbulence that followed last year’s devaluation of the naira went beyond anything the chief supply officer of Nigerian paint maker Chemical and Allied Products could have imagined.
“From a supply chain point of view it was the worst period I’ve ever witnessed because we’d wake up and give a purchase order and within five seconds it was rejected because [foreign exchange] prices were so unstable,” Aluko recalled of early 2024, when the currency was devalued for the second time in eight months.
